by K B Cinder
Rebel beamed. “I’m a police officer with Honey Hills Police Department.”
Papa threw his head back and laughed, Mama joining him a second later. “Soraya’s dating a police officer?” she sputtered. “Oh, that’s golden. I need to crack open a bottle of wine for this.”
“We’re not dating!” I snapped, but Rebel raised a brow as my parents cackled. “Officially or anything. I can’t date with a dog collar on my ankle.”
I tried to save face, not wanting to have that conversation, and it seemed to work, with Rebel looking back to Mama, patiently waiting for the firing squad to resume her post.
“Have kids?” she asked, wiping her eyes as laughing tears threatened her mascara.
Rebel glanced between parents, his sea-green eyes softening. Even when he’d initially lost it over me meeting them, his love for his daughters still shined through, the man reduced to butter at their mentioning. “Two daughters.”
“Has Raya met them?” Papa asked, jumping in before Mama could fire off another question.
Rebel nodded. “She has.”
“And?” Mama barged right back in as she plucked a cube of salami from the tray in front of her.
A smile touched Rebel’s lips. “They like her. One actually likes her more than she likes me.”
“Keep an eye on that one,” Papa warned, leaning forward to grab a piece of Havarti.
Mama paused with the salami halfway to her mouth. “I didn’t catch your last name.”
“Rebel.”
Mama and Papa erupted into laughter, Papa sputtering on cheese, repeating Mama’s earlier mistake
“A rebel cop,” Mama squeaked out, her hand splayed across her chest. “My, Raya, you really met your match.”
22
Raya
Most people spent an anniversary catching dinner.
Maybe a movie or a show if you’re into that.
Others might hole up with pizza, Netflix, and mind-blowing sex.
I was a fan of the latter, but it wasn’t really an option with either of our living situations, and celebrating a one-month anniversary was a little kooky, even for me.
Instead, Rebel drove me to the police station to have the ankle monitor removed, my skin singing gospel once it could fully breathe again without the plastic prison.
I got to show off my little inked gemstone too finally, though Rebel pointed out that the surrounding stubble made the cute ruby look more like a hairy nipple.
Nice guy, eh?
For that, I’d transform his reckless tattoo to say feckless again with a Sharpie as he slept.
Afterward, he promised a trip to the boardwalk to celebrate freedom from the bracelet and group, which I’d finally wrapped up the day before, closing the chapter where we’d began.
It was bizarre and even a little scary to have my life back, but I was excited to see where everything went.
Rebel stopped at the gas station to fill up his truck before making the long drive south. He ran inside for drinks while I texted Rini, Lita, and my parents a picture of my bare, spiky ankle propped up on the dash, my toenails painted a sunny yellow.
I wore capris to mark the occasion, feeling like a new woman as I bared my hilariously pale ankles to the world. I didn’t care about the stubble or the lack of a tan, only concerned that I could start fresh with a clean slate, no dreaded record there to hold me back.
Rini: Someone needs a wax, Chewy.
Fingers tapped off my door’s window, and I looked up from my phone, fully expecting to see Rebel fucking with me, only to see Cass standing with a mega-sized soda, a group of her skateboarder friends doing tricks in the side lot in the distance behind her.
My heart dropped as I searched for Rebel, hoping he was on his way to save me from the pop-up parenting nightmare, but he was MIA, leaving me to fend for myself with exactly zero parental experience and a charging bull of a teenager.
We hadn’t told the kids about us yet. Not because of shame or uncertainty. We’d both agreed it was better to do once I could come to his place and hang out.
While I could do that as of an hour earlier, I hadn’t expected to face it head-on so soon. And especially not alone.
I rolled down the window, hoping she didn’t recognize Rebel’s truck. Tons of guys drove lifted black trucks, right? Sage did. “Hey, Cass.”
“Why are you in my dad’s truck?” she asked, firing off the question like a bazooka.
Shit. So much for that.
I swallowed, wishing Rebel would reappear. I didn’t want to be the one to tell his child what was going on between him and I. It didn’t feel right.
“Why aren’t you in school?” I asked.
According to the dash, it was only two p.m. and she definitely still should’ve been in chemistry, not in a gas station parking lot across from the high school.
She crossed her arms as her nostrils flared. “I asked you first.”
“My question is more important,” I argued, setting my phone in the cup holder.
“Are you seriously seeing my dad after everything I told you about the girls at school?”
“Cass,” I started, but she didn’t give me a chance to finish, slamming a fist into the car door with a thud.
“Dammit, Raya!” she shouted, her chest heaving. “Damn you. I thought you were my friend.”
“I am your friend, Cass! We were going to tell you!” I defended, not knowing what else to say.
Tears shone in her eyes. “Did you fuck after you met at the gym on Izzy’s birthday? Oh my God! How could you do that to me?”
“No, before that!” I died inside, realizing what I’d revealed, but it was too late to press rewind. The words were out there, and I’d never get them back.
“You fucked my dad!?” she screeched.
“Cass, calm down!”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Abort mission.
I was totally fucking this up.
We were supposed to have a television breakthrough where she got a little mad and hugged me after.
I wasn’t supposed to tell her I fucked her dad. That wasn’t part of the script.
Tears streaked her cheeks as she punched the truck door again, harder than before. “No! You lied to me, and you fucked my dad!”
I wiped at a tear of my own. “I didn’t lie to you!”
“What the hell is going on out here?” Rebel demanded as he walked into the thick of things at the worst time with a bag of snacks on his arm.
“I’ll never forgive you for fucking my friend, asshole!” Cass exploded.
Rebel’s jaw dropped as he looked to me, but I didn’t get to say anything before Cass started up again.
“You are so selfish! I can’t believe you! She’s supposed to be my friend, and you’re supposed to be my dad! I hope you’re happy! You ruined my life!”
“Cass…” Rebel trailed, reaching for her, but she stormed off toward her friends, flipping us off the entire way.
23
Raya
Coffee was my new best friend.
Not a puny cappuccino, either.
Dark roast with cream and extra sugar.
I needed the big guns to survive my Saturday morning shift, the last weekend day I’d ever work.
At the gym, at least.
The steaming cup of the good stuff sat atop the desk while I scanned and filed receipts for the new shipment of gear, the pros setting up the towering machines with loud ass drills that should’ve been illegal to use that early in the morning.
I’d stayed up too late crafting a business plan that I wanted Lita and Rini to go over with Papa after Theron’s birthday dinner later. It looked like a winner to me, but both sisters had built empires, so their input was invaluable if I wanted to get the show on the road smoothly.
As fun as it was, I couldn’t work at the gym forever. Not only was it not financially feasible, but it wasn’t my dream.
Baking odds and ends for my parents made me realize how much I missed it, and once I toyed with start
ing up a home-baking business one day, I couldn’t stop.
Having my name on something was the push I needed, and at a little after two a.m., Soraya’s Sweets was born into the world.
On paper, that is.
I still had to run through the obstacle course of permits and registrations that the state laid out, Jersey notorious for trying to tax and regulate you down to the last fart.
But even through all the excitement, deep down I ached.
I’d tossed and turned the rest of the night, not from nervous jitters over taking the jump, but from hurting Cass.
She’d ignored my texts, and Rebel said she called him a fuckhead before storming to her room and refusing to talk.
I mean, he was a fuckhead sometimes, but she shouldn’t have called her dad that. Mine still threatened soap in my mouth if I dropped fuck around him.
That avoidance wouldn’t last forever though. She had a fresh round of classes set to start at eight o’clock, an advanced self-defense course designed to whip her into ass-kicking shape.
Since she was eyeing colleges out of state, it was the only way Rebel’d let her consider them on his dime.
Earlier that week, she and I made plans to visit a campus in North Carolina together for a mini girls’ trip in the fall, but with everything that happened, I could only assume that was as likely as lightning striking me while winning the lottery on a Leap Day.
Cass was like her father in a lot of ways. Stubborn. Guarded. And above all, she valued loyalty.
In her eyes, I’d broken that, even if I technically hadn’t.
I watched the clock all morning, downing my entire coffee and some of the mystery pot in the break room, relieved that the bitter sludge didn’t bite back as seven-forty-five rolled around and the bell over the door chimed, the music low so the machine builders could hear one another.
Cass didn’t make eye contact as she stormed in, but I didn’t push her to, either. She headed right to the lat pull-down, where she liked to hide out and text if I was too busy to chat pre-class.
I ached to run over and do just that, but anger still simmered off of her, so I gave her the space she needed, hoping the class would cool her down some.
I’d glance over to check in as I worked, hoping to see a smidgen of a smile.
Maybe catch her looking at me.
But I never did.
I noticed a tall lanky kid with a mop top sit on the machine beside her, though, his neck long and birdlike while his scrawny arms outstretched like wings as they dangled from the bar above his head, a slightly bent nose at his face’s center.
I’d never seen the boy before, but based on Cass’s stiff body, she knew exactly who he was, and she wanted nothing to do with him.
She might’ve wanted to kill me for doing it, but I got up and walked over to shoo him away like the annoying pigeon he was. I wouldn’t see her uncomfortable, even if she hated me at the moment.
“What’s up?” I asked, earning a flurry of daggers from her before she looked nervously back at the boy. “Who’s this?”
I’d never seen him before, and with his vulture hunch and beady little eyes, he didn’t belong anywhere near Cass. Fuck, he didn’t belong anywhere near me. Creep alert.
“That’s Tony,” Cass muttered. “He was just leaving.”
“No, I wasn’t!” he argued, reaching toward her, but I stepped between them before he could touch her.
“Yes, you were.” I said it sweetly with a smile, but the beady-eyed bastard practically growled at me.
“She’s my girlfriend, and we’re working something out!” He sniffled as he spoke, like one side of his beak wasn’t getting enough airflow.
As I studied him, that bump on his nose looked a lot like a poorly healed break as his the bridge was slightly bent around it. Like he’d taken his posts out too soon before it hardened straight again.
He’s here because he broke someone’s nose.
I was willing to bet money that honker was broken by Lev Rebel and in a weird way, I owed it a thank you for us meeting.
“Cass doesn’t have a boyfriend,” I stated, knowing for a fact she was single and crushing on some kid named Gavin. He was all she’d ever talk about when she’d swing by the gym for me to braid her hair on the way to the skatepark to see him with her friends.
“You don’t know her, bitch,” the smarmy bastard snapped. “Mind your own business.”
“She is my business, and so are you since you’re in my gym!” I held my ground. “I don’t know who you think you are, Chicken Wing, but it’s time for you to leave.”
He didn’t, choosing to stand and try to stare me down instead, like I was afraid of a teenage boy I likely had twenty pounds on despite his height. “How about no?”
I met him toe to toe. “If you ever step foot near my Cass again, not only will you have to deal with me and her father, but you’ll answer to that big motherfucker over there.” I pointed at Sage, who’d just exited his office, and smiled when the scrawny fuck’s throat bobbed with a gulp.
Just like that, the boy left without another word, leaving Cass looking at me like she’d never seen me in her life.
“I can’t believe he listened to you!” she sputtered. “The last time we talked, he slapped me. That’s why Dad…”
I reached out and smoothed her hair, her right pigtail a lumpy mess. “It doesn’t matter what you said or did. No real man lays a hand on a woman.”
She nodded slowly, her breathing ragged. “Thanks, Raya.”
“Anytime.” I patted her shoulder and went to leave, but her fingers caught my wrist.
She looked up at me, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry for how I acted yesterday. Dad told me you knew him before we were friends.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”
She offered a lopsided smile. “Friends again?”
I hugged her before pulling back to study her. “We never stopped as far as I’m concerned. But one thing…”
She hung her head, readying for a world-class lecture. “Yeah?”
I looked to where bird man had flown off to. “We need to have a serious talk about your taste in boys.”
24
Lev
“You slimy pile of barnacles!”
Izzy tossed a handful of fake bills at Cass who sat triumphantly across the table with a row of hotels clear to Boardwalk.
“Learn from the master,” Cass said as she raked in her earnings, stacking it neatly with the rest of her blood money. She’d bankrupted me two turns ago, and it wasn’t looking good for the younger kiddo, either.
That left Cass and Raya going head to head for the crown, the storm outside that knocked out the power having nothing on the two board game juggernauts.
Cass had already smoked us in Scrabble, while Raya wiped the floor with everyone in Trivial Pursuit.
Life was a draw, with Raya and I separated by five-thousand dollars thanks to a last-minute Life tile that handed her the win. I was tempted for a rematch once they finished this bloodbath, but as we neared midnight, alone time with my girl seemed like the better option after a long day on patrol.
Candles illuminated the kitchen, the scented hoard Raya’d brought smelling a lot better than the usual stench of bleach. I figured that clean was good enough around the house, but maybe the girls were right when they said our house smelled like a hospital.
Raya rolled a seven and tapped her dog piece down the board, promptly landing her ass in jail.
I hooted with laughter while Cass did a happy dance, celebrating what she’d hope would lead to her eventual win.
“I’ll visit you,” I promised, smiling at Raya before gesturing at the girls. “You’ll be fine since you can do hair. You’ll get paid big bucks so you can grab cookies from commissary.”
She’d styled both girls’ hair into French-braided pigtails after their showers, promising they’d see semi-curls in the morning like hers for our beach day in Ship Bottom.
Raya batted her las
hes at me as Cass rolled for her turn. “Or my lovely boyfriend who’s a cop could let me off.”
I shook my head. “You do the crime, you do the time.”
She frowned dramatically. “Rolling a seven totally isn’t a crime. What did I do wrong?”
“Being hot without a license?” I suggested with a shrug.
Cass shuttered, paying her dues for landing on one of Raya’s squares with a hotel. “Alright, enough with the gross!”
“Oh, like you and Gavin aren’t disgusting!” Izzy mocked with an eye roll.
“Who’s Gavin?” I asked, looking between the girls.
Cass seemed ready to throw her baby sister out into the storm while Izzy was unapologetic as she stroked Chomp’s colossal head beneath the kitchen table.
Raya, beautiful as ever, was silent.
“Hello? Who the hell is Gavin?” I put my hand over the dice, delaying the game until someone spoke up. I didn’t mind dating, but she was supposed to talk to me about that kind of crap. We had a deal after everything that happened with Tony.
Cass frowned. “He’s just a boy, okay?”
Izzy rolled the dice for her turn, breathing a sigh of relief when she landed on her own square. “A boy that she totally has the hots for. She drew hearts on his head in her yearbook.”
“So, you’re dating?” That’s what it meant when I was in school, at least. Hell, I didn’t even remember who I’d dated my sophomore year.
“No!” Cass replied, her cheeks flushing in the dim light. “He’s just a friend. Oh my God!”
“She’s a chickenshit,” Izzy said matter-a-factly, sending Raya and I into stitches.
I stepped onto the front porch, Raya already sitting in a rocking chair. Three silver buttons skipping down her chest caught the candlelight as she moved back and forth, almost twinkling in the darkness.
“Hey, Sparkle Tits,” I greeted, sliding into the open chair next to her.
She glanced down before turning to me with a grimace. “Really?”
“If the shoe fits…” I trailed with a shrug, handing over a spiked lemonade like she’d requested.
